Ripon newsletter: September 2022
This newsletter was originally sent to our Ripon alumni in September 2022 and was posted on this blog in December 2023. If you would like to read our latest newsletters, please navigate to our home page.
Welcome to your second Ripon alumni newsletter. Since your last newsletter, we’ve enjoyed hearing from alumni who have decided to reconnect with us, completed our work on your annual alumni magazine and begun planning ahead for some exciting events next year.
We’ve also recently launched our new alumni snapshot to help us better understand the journeys of our alumni. We want to find out more about your time studying in Ripon, and where your qualifications have taken you over the years! If you’d like to share your alumni story, please complete our snapshot.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to welcome our students back to campus this week and welcome our next cohort of graduates in November at graduation. We also can’t wait to talk to more alumni after we announce something special happening next year!
Remembering her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
At York St John, we were all saddened to learn about the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and offer our sincere condolences to the Royal Family.
In recognition of a sombre moment in our history, the university and alumni channels fell silent throughout the official mourning period. For those who wondered where their newsletter was last week, a decision was made to delay this newsletter and other alumni communications until today.
But did you know that the Queen visited Ripon at different points during her reign? If you were studying with us at the time, you might remember seeing her, or remember waking up and learning that’d you’d missed her!
- The Harrogate Advertiser has written an article sharing some of her visits to Ripon and the local area.
- The Stray Ferret has also published accounts from local people remembering some of her visits to the local area too.
- Read a statement from our Vice Chancellor.
- You can also read the Dean of Ripon’s statement following the announcement of Her Majesty’s death.
What does September mean to you?
For many, September is synonymous with the start of a new school year, and later, leaving home to go to college.
Whilst today’s new students will have things on their ‘must pack’ list like a laptop, a reusable coffee cup and fairy lights, there are still plenty of things you’d recognise on their packing lists too! Things like a laundry basket, favourite mug and cold relief tablets for ‘freshers flu’ are still very much in demand for today’s students.
When you arrived at college on your first day, what did you bring in your suitcase?
Your Ripon update
Whether it’s been months or years since your last visit to Ripon, here are a few things that have been happening in Ripon since your last newsletter:
- At the end of June, Ripon’s many attractions for a day out were positively reviewed. Have you been to them all?
- In August, Ripon locals lined the streets for the tradition St Wilfrid’s procession.
- Ripon Museums Trust have been celebrating 40 years this summer.
- In August, prolific Ripon based author Ian Gouge won the Swanwick Short Story Competition.
- At the start of September, Fountains Abbey was named the nation’s best historic attraction, alongside Edinburgh’s Royal Yacht Britannia.
Your alumni magazine
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hard at work writing your annual alumni magazine. Including a look back at life at our founder colleges in 1952, a special feature on a recent alumna who went viral with her illustrations, and a special announcement for our entire alumni community, we hope you enjoy reading it next month!
If you no longer live in the UK, have not given us your current UK address, or have opted out of postal communications, you’ll still be able to read it online once it’s been released.
Marking 160 years of Ripon College
In 1862, Ripon College opened its doors for the first time. Since then, you our alumni have been its ambassadors, embodying the best of its values.
Although our Ripon campus was closed, the spirit of it remains on our York campus. To mark 160 years since its foundation, we wrote a short blog with 16 interesting (to us, and hopefully you) facts about Ripon College. Including some early photos of a Ripon reunion and a look at Ripon’s legacy on our campus today, we hope you enjoy reading our new blog post.
Read about Ripon College’s history on our blog.
Remember a Charity Week
For the second year in a row, we celebrated Remember A Charity Week. This week aims to highlight the opportunity we all have to support a charity beyond our lifetime. Did you know that you can leave a gift to more than one charity in your will? We shared blogs from two former staff members who have decided to leave us a gift:
- Read Stuart’s blog, a staff member who worked with us from 1998 until his retirement.
- Read Dianne Willcock’s statement about why she’s decided to leave us a gift.
You can find out more about gifts to York St John on our website.
News from York
Since your last Ripon newsletter, we’ve been busy on campus! We’ve held open days and interview days for prospective students and welcomed new students though clearing. This week, campus is busy again with students returning or starting their courses for the first time.
In other news, our Vice Chancellor was appointed the new Chair of Yorkshire Universities, one of our lecturers was awarded a prestigious national teaching fellowship, and the first business to move into our new Enterprise Centre have begun collaborating with M&S!
Did you study with us before 1980?
If you were awarded a certificate of education before 1980, did you know that you are eligible to be awarded an Honorary Bachelor of Education degree?
A few years ago, we began awarding honorary degrees to our alumni in recognition of the academic rigour of their courses. Although the honorary degree holds no academic weight, we know that it means a lot to our honorary degree recipients.
If you would like to apply for this honorary degree, please email alumni@yorksj.ac.uk your name, any previous names you have had, the years you studied with us, and your exact course details. If you have your original certificate, please send us a clear photo of this too.
Where did Ripon take you?
No matter when you finished your course at Ripon, we want to know where your studies took you. Whether you followed the career you expected, or have done things you could never have imagined, we’d like to hear from you!
You can tell us about your career, your favourite memories from studying with us and share your advice for our current students too.
